Sunday 8 December 2013

Jollies in Jaipur

So here we are on the final leg of our journey.  By pure chance, we had chosen to see Jaipur last.  We arrived following a long drive from Agra, via Mathura and Vrindavan which I wrote about previously, feeling a bit jaded.  Our guide was a young guy called Sanjay who spoke the best English of all our guides and had the kind of sarcastic sense of humour that went down a treat with the Shah et moi.

Jaipur is called the pink city because, in 1876 when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) toured India, the King of Jaipur ordered the city to be painted pink as it is the colour of welcome.  It is now illegal for the outsides of any building in the old city to be painted any other colour.  

We had heard good things about this place before got there - various friends and contacts who had visited and lived there, raved about it and we were not disappointed.  We stayed in a small boutique hotel that had been in the owner's family for generations.  It was beautifully furnished with antiques and had the most attentive staff, bizarrely attired in military uniforms.


The gates to the old city

There is just something about the atmosphere of Jaipur - it was still teeming and busy but somehow just a bit less frenetic than Delhi and less tacky than Agra.  The Rajasthani people dress in such vivid colours, the wild pinks and ochres and cyans are a feast for the senses and it seems impossible to feel sad or down in the face of their cheerful disposition despite the inevitable crushing poverty.





Spice Boy




Snake charmer!

On day 2, our guide suggested we visit the Amber Fort.  'Hmmmm' we said as forts are frankly 10 a rupee in India and we felt well and truly fortified after seeing the various offerings in Delhi, Agra etc.  But we were persuaded. 

The fort is somewhat outside Jaipur and driving towards it, I suddenly noticed this incredible building at the top of a mountain.  The walls went on for so long, it looked like the Great Wall of China from afar.  There were red blobs moving slowly up towards the mountain top but we were so far away, I couldn't tell what they were.  The driver dropped us at the bottom of the mountain and Sanjay said the magic words - "So, how would you like to get up to the top?  By car, on foot or by elephant?"  No contest!  He led us deftly to the head of the queue for elephants (it's amazing how the crowds part for a good guide who knows his way around and is familiar with all the sites you visit).  

The red blobs turned out to be the cloths on the elephants which take punters one way only, up the mountain - not down.  You stand on a raised platform - no guard rails - don't be silly - and the elephants approach.  They know exactly what to do and they shuffle into position alongside the platform.  They each have a  seat on their backs and you hop nimbly (ahem) aboard and the Mahout gives the order to giddy up or the Hindi equivalent.





Unfortunately, Blogger has now taken agin me and won't let me add captions but you can probably tell that the bottom photo is the view from our elephant and the other two are the elephants patiently waiting for their next fare.  Our Mahout was fascinated by this weirdo visiting Coconut* and his Gori** wife and spent the entire ride facing us, rather than the direction we were going in, chatting to the Shah in a mixture of dialects.  They seemed to understand each other perfectly well and luckily Pinky the elephant knew where to go without guidance, which was just as well really.

The Amber Fort - when we hopped off Pinky at the top - proved to be absolutely gobsmacking.  You all have to promise me that, if you ever get to Jaipur, you will make the effort to go there.  The Jaipuri Royal family still lives within the fort (the current King is 15 years old) and their palace is the only building in Jaipur which is permitted to be any colour other than pink - it's a beautiful golden yellow colour.

As ever, the architecture was stunning, with walls inlaid with precious gems, mother of pearl and silver:-
The photo above shows the palace of the royal family.  It's in the wrong place in this post but Blogger is a piece of sh1t and won't let me move it without deleting everything else I've written :(


The silver vessel above is the height of a man.  there are two of them on display and when the King visited England for the coronation of Edward VII, he took both of them with him, filled with holy water from the Ganges, as he refused to drink anything else.

Finally, I have to show you the Palace of the Winds.  This extraordinary building is incredibly high but only one room deep.  The royal ladies used to sit behind the screened windows and look down on everything going on in the street below.

Next time, we'll make sure we are able to stay in India for Diwali (the Hindu Festival of Light).  The city was being decorated as we left and looked stunning with every street and every building festooned with swathes of tinsel that glittered in the daylight sunshine and tiny lights which glowed at night.

Below is the house which was across the street from our hotel.  Some people just can't help but take things a bit too far!


* Coconut - I refer you to my previous post - a term I use for the Shah because he is brown on the outside and white on the inside.
** Gori - an Indian slang term for a white woman.  A Gora is the male equivalent.

16 comments:

  1. Woah...what a fabulous trip....those buildings look amazing. I've always wanted to ride and elephant too...bet it was really good.

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  2. Like Libby, I want to say woah and wow and generally squeal a lot. Quite spectacular buildings, wonderful shots full of colour and atmosphere too. And your personality shines through to make me laugh. Giddy up!! Ha.

    Blogger is a bugger at times, I agree. You spend forever clicking and shoving photos up and down, trying to make them go in the right place when they refuse to do as they are told.

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    1. I can hear you squealing from here Trish! Praise indeed from a seasoned travel writer!

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  3. Oh wow from me too, what a fantastic place, how long were you away? You packed such a lot in! Wonderful pictures, it's all so colourful.
    And I love the final house, I'd do that to mine for Christmas if I could - but then I was brought up on the highlight of the year being a trip to Blackpool illuminations!

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    1. I love Blackpool and the illuminations! We were away for only 12 days but we packed a lot in. The lit-up house was a very modern gated place and it must have cost them a fortune to run all those lights, spectacular though they were!

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  4. I promise faithfully to go to Amber Fort if every near Jaipur. It all looks amazing and you've done it credit with Blogger, which is no small feat. So glad you enjoyed yourselves so thoroughly and would have loved some pics of you on top of an elephant! xx

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    1. Honestly, I was so pathetically excited to be up so close and personal with the elephants that it never occurred to me to get our photo taken! Just about the only thing we didn't take a snap of though!

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  5. Fantastic photos even if Blogger is being a bugger, and what an amazing visit. I would def have chosen the elephants too to go up the hill. The whole post is so full of colour. Lovely! :)

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    1. Thanks Sarah - they do say it's impossible to take a bad photo in India and I'm not a natural photographer by any means - but it is such a spectacular place!

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  6. It was fantastic Libby - something to be remembered for a long time.

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  7. Oh my gosh, every photo is a corker, love traveling around India with you! How funny because the Mexican culture has a lot of pinkish buildings too, wonder if it's because of the welcome thing or just because the dye came from a certain plant. That's extraordinary that elephants are around like that, really makes me want to go. Blogger has taken agin me too, when I post a post on facebook it no longer brings up any of the photos, just the masthead.

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  8. Hi all - Blogger has now taken aign me to such an extent that it is not even allowing me to leave responses to comments :(. So - Rog - I thought I had replied to you ages ago - thank you for your kind words!

    Jody - I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure you would love it if you ever got to go. and Blogger is a piece of poo. It's done nothing but misbehave recently, for no apparent reason...

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    1. I have just gone to allow anon comments. And comment moderation Do you know if there is any white list you can set up under that regime so your usual commenters do not have to be moderated?

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  9. Love India....so love Rajasthan ....so so envious!!

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    1. Just getting you back for all your lovely travel photos YaH!

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Oh go on - say something for God's sake...